MURFREESBORO, Tenn. -- With the weekend series already in hand, Old Dominion fell to Middle Tennessee, 17-6, in seven innings on Sunday afternoon at Reese Smith Jr. Field.

Despite the loss, Old Dominion (24-9, 9-3 C-USA) won the series, 2-1, over Middle Tennessee (15-17, 4-8 C-USA), maintaining its perfect 7-0 record in weekend series this season.

The Blue Raiders scored five runs in the bottom of the first to gain the early advantage and extended the lead to 6-0 with a run in the second.

The Monarchs, behind two-run home runs from Jared Young and Zach Rutherford in the third and fourth innings respectively, then cut the lead to 6-4. However, MTSU broke the game open with seven runs in the fifth, before plating two in the seventh to end the game early due to the travel day mercy rule.

Young led ODU at the plate, going 4-for-4 with a home run, three runs scored and two RBIs. Young ended the series 10-for-15 with three home runs and five RBIs and hit .667 with five home runs, three doubles and 11 RBIs during the five-game road trip for an OPS of 2.097.

Rutherford and Vinnie Pasquantino also had fine afternoons at the plate, as Rutherford went 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBIs and Pasquantino finished 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs.

Despite the loss, the Monarchs remain in a two-way tie for second place in the Conference USA standings with Florida Atlantic, one game behind first-place and 17th-ranked Southern Miss.

The Monarchs return to Norfolk following their five-game road trip for a midweek matchup against William & Mary on Tuesday at 6 p.m. at The Bud.

GAME NOTESMTSU now leads all-time series, 9-6 ... Jared Young's home run was his 5th in his last 4 games and his 6th of the season, which leads the team ... Zach Rutherford's home run was his 2nd of the season ... Vinnie Pasquantino extended his hitting streak to 19 games ... Nick Walker, with two walks today, has now reached base safely in 31 of 33 games this season.

BASEBALL VOUCHER BOOKSBaseball voucher books can be purchased here for $50 and contain a total of 36 ticket vouchers. The ticket vouchers can be used at any of the 36 home ODU baseball games this season, including the Harbor Park game against Virginia Tech and the Key Dog Classic against VCU on May 10 at the Bud Metheny Complex.

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